Candice Breitz
dal 18/2/2009 al 20/3/2009
Segnalato da
18/2/2009
Candice Breitz
Yvon Lambert, New York
Him + Her. The exhibition features two seven-channel installations: Him (1968-2008) montages together a conversation between 23 Jack Nicholsons extracted from films made over a period of 40 years, while Her (1978 - 2008) places 28 Meryl Streeps - drawn out of 30 years' worth of films - into dialogue with one another.
Yvon Lambert New York is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by
Candice Breitz. The exhibition features two seven-channel installations: Him
(1968-2008) montages together a conversation between 23 Jack Nicholsons
extracted from films made over a period of 40 years, while Her (1978 – 2008)
places 28 Meryl Streeps – drawn out of 30 years’ worth of films – into
dialogue with one another. The exhibition will open with a reception for the
artist on February 19th from 6 to 8pm and will be on view from February 19th
through March 21st 2009.
Candice Breitz (b. 1972) is considered one of the most important
contemporary video artists working today. Breitz’s video installations
question the relationship of mainstream media to a global culture. Picking
up where her earlier installations Mother + Father left off, Him + Her use
existing footage from Hollywood films to compose dense psychological
vignettes through careful editing. Him + Her, while displayed in separate
rooms, are identical in structure and mirror each other formally. Each
installation suspends seven 50² plasma displays on a minimal steel
structure. Across the displays, numerous manifestations of the same actor
(either Nicholson or Streep) jostle with one another for prominence,
collectively suggesting, in their sameness and difference, strong metaphors
for the schizophrenic internal dialogue that takes place within the mind of
a single individual. In engaging a series of disparate voices from the same
mind, Breitz creates a kaleidoscopic, insightful and witty set of
interactions between the multiple Jacks and many Meryls, interactions that
draw to the surface a series of Hollywood-perpetuated clichés about
psychology and gender.
The self-worth of the female characters in Her is largely inflected through
their relationship to the men in their lives, while the male characters in
Him somewhat more narcissistically struggle with issues of self-definition,
sanity and sexual performance. Breitz’s engagement of two iconic actors to
play her leads allows a broader reflection on performance and subjectivity.
At the same time, the works prompt us to view celebrity as an ingredient
that has become increasingly central to contemporary identity formation.
Breitz has said that Nicholson and Streep are not the true subjects of Him +
Her: her focus lies instead on “the unconscious of mainstream cinema, the
values and layers of meaning that slowly start to make themselves legible
when the big plots are stripped away.”
Breitz’s work has been exhibited extensively in Europe and the United States
and is in the public collections of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New
York; the Castello di Rivoli in Italy; and the Louisiana Museum of Modern
Art in Denmark to name a few. Her work is also included in private
collections such as Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, the Sammlung Goetz
and the Pinchuk Collection.
Please contact Elodie Cazes or Geneva Jann-Lewis with any press inquiries at Elodie@yvon-lambert.com or Geneva@yvon-lambert.com or 212 242-3611.
Reception for the artist on February 19th from 6 to 8pm
Yvon Lambert
550 West 21st Street - New York
Free admission